2008 WCP Spring/Winter Paddle post wrap up comments

Oh come on guys, enough about the weather!! :lol: So we had snow, hail, WIND, freezing temps, and the odd sun. Despite all that We all managed to keep laughing and having a good time. It was so nice of mother nature to let us end it all off with a great paddle back today in the sun, and a ice cold pint on the patio of the pub at the ferry terminal 8)

It was nice meeting all the new people, great potluck and hope to paddle with you again (hopefully we can actually paddle ) Photos will come tomorrow

Well, it's been another tough couple of days of paddling in the Gulf Islands.

After everyone left we (Astoria Dave, his friend Bruce, and Doug Lloyd, Kasey, Candikayak, and I) enjoyed a beautiful afternoon of sunshine -- laying on the beach taking it all in. Went to the pub for dinner and came back to the campsite for a quiet evening. Had a solo paddler from Australia show up early evening.

Woke up this morning to rain, cold, and high winds -- Doug left quite early today and Dave and Bruce left around 8:00 (sorry for not saying good-bye guys but it was darned warm in my sleeping bag). Around noon, the sun made an appearance and the wind dropped so Kasey, Candi and I paddled to the bridge, played around in the currents and checked out the marine life at low tide -- absolutely amazing! Since we were so close, we thought we'd stop in at the pub for some Nachos and use their wifi connection. 8)

We're running low on food so we decided to pick a few yummy looking treats off the bridge pilings and will be grilling them and serving them up with a few crusty bagels that someone was kind enough to leave in the big tent. You guys are missing the best meal of the trip:

Things were developing rather slowly at first. Here, on the ferry ride to Saturna enthusiasm is not obvious yet.

Some spiritual improvement was easy to detect on the second day (Friday). Browning pub was just around the corner (not clearly visible due to light weather pattern disturbance) and some paddlers decided to look for inspiration there.

The third day looked promissing, especially after eviction of some poor homeless soul. Fortunately, he decided to clean most of the mess by himself, leaving only almost full bottle of wine (it was decent, I'd say) and a spit of whiskey in another bottle. Anyway, no homelesness allowed on the islands. Take your kayak and go somewhere alse!

So, shortly after food started to arrive.

Sunday was rather disappointing, weather and otherwise. If it was not for this happy face I do not know how we would have survived to the end of the trip.

At one point, this guy started to loose it. He could not figure out which way is up. We had to use force to drag him to the ferry. Once on the deck, he did not show any more aquatic tendencies. I wonder for how long.

Some paddlers never have enough of it. Here they talk about more kayaking possibilities for the near future. Just go home and watch TV for a while, folks!

Otherwise, the trip was uneventful, I'd say almost boring. Yah, next spring I definitely will skip the WCP get together and go shopping or something along this line.

Great reports. I am jealous of all that sunshine, but not the paddling in slush! Bruce and I had a fine time, especially meeting all you wonderful people. You are much more handsome and skinnier than I imagined. I think I might have a couple of photos to offer, when I wake up.

We edged in from Port Browning, electing for a more protected route, as befits old bulls, managing to dodge the nastiest weather. And, I was too busy cooking and eating to snatch photos of the potluck.

I was mightily impressed by the hammocks, but did not get one shot! Oh, well, next year!

Well, Kasey, CandiKayak, and I are now across Plumper Sound and sitting here waiting for our ferry in the sunshine after having a very nice paddle from the campsite to Lyall Harbour. It was raining quite hard this morning but settled down around 10:00 as we left the campsite -- there was a bit of wind but nothing like yesterday -- we had about a 1 foot chop in Plumper Sound and enjoyed a most pleasant, leisurely paddle along the shoreline of Saturna Island spotting tons of marine life along the way. If you've never stuck your nose into Boot Cove (just west of the ferry terminal), I would highly recommend it -- it's a very nice little protected harbour and well worth a look.

It's worth noting that it's very cool that there's wireless internet in all the pubs that we encountered along the way. 8)

I'll post some photos later tonight when I get home, or tomorrow (probably tomorrow).

Thanks for the great weekend WCP! It was my first kayak trip/camping since open heart surgery/complications 14 months ago. It was a priviledge to meet paddlers with more than just brawn...guys like Dan and Mick were even more charming and intelligent in person. Our coast and sport has a good future.

The big MSR tent was really what pulled things together, filled with the warmth of friendship on a rather cold weekend.

I really enjoyed meeting kayakwriter in person. This guy thinks through his paddling gear and boat outfitting seriously, and it wasn't all MEC stuff!

There was some great scenery and a palpable sense of youthful energy abounding.

At least, some of the group was energized. The greybeards wern't too bad after a little shuteye...

Paddlers were picture perfect in all they did the whole weekend.

And I was immensly impressed with Mr. pain himself and enjoyed his short recount told to me personally of his circumnav of V.Island. He struck me as one of the few serious paddlers there in terms of the whole go fast, go British-style thing. A whitewater background can do that to a guy launching into ocean kayaking. I also sensed this fellow knew his stuff, but knew when to back off and stay safe.

And these two bulls, well, a little kayak paddle jousting is probably pretty harmless...

I left early Monday morning around the outside of North Pender so that that hunk of American, Astorian Davidian, could make the Otter Bay lineup in time to catch the Coho without a shuffle of my kayak to slow him down. I had to uphaul my new-to-me fully loaded S&G Forager up barnacle covered rocks and under overhead structures to a disgorging flat rock, between ferry dockings. Really got to see how well these epoxy S&G's hold up to my brand of abuse. This commando terminal access is something that should be throughly discouraged. It was a bit of my previous life, bad-boy kayaker practices slipping out from an era when I figured I "owned the coast" as it were. :wink:

We had some hail on the way home. But we had some nice times of sunshine too the day before circumnavigating South Pender with Dave and his bud Bruce and myself. Saw a Sea Otter eating crustaceans along North Pender Monday morn, played in some tideraces, enjoyed seeing Dave again, and figured the overtime I lost at work on Saturday was well worth the weekend away. Though I do prefere North Pender's west side in my Nordkapp on a big day in the clapotis, and normally head over to Turn Point to play the overfalls. But, camping with friends is good too. Thanks Westcoastpaddler.com, you crazy lazy "unclub".

I really enjoyed meeting kayakwriter in person. This guy thinks through his paddling gear and boat outfitting seriously...

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Wow! Coming from one of the grand old men of sea kayaking that means a lot! It was great meeting you too, Doug. Hope we can actually paddle together at some point. Please be gentle, though - even with you in a recovery phase, I think you're ahead of my league.

Well, Candikayak and I got home at 1:00 this morning after hitting some snow flurries at the Van end of the Coq…totally exhausted and both sick with chest colds BUT I would’ve stayed longer if we could’ve!! What a great week we had – from surviving the snow squalls to sitting in a sheltered nook in the sun reading a book, it was all great! If the weather had been a little better we might even have gotten in more paddling than to and from the pub in Port Browning :wink: (though the shower was awesome!) but we still had lots of poking around in the channel under the bridge,
paddled about a third of the way around South Pender one evening and the paddle back to Saturna was great with some fun waves and more poking around in the sealife!

I very much enjoyed seeing many from last year again, of course Dan,

Maddie,

Andreas,

waverider,

Mick,
kayakwriter, sludge and Robert. Thanks for the tips on treehanging Andreas , sorry for almost singeing your hair Mick when my “member malfunction” tried to burn the tent down (Trangia here I come!), Robert congrats on the new baby due, Maddie, you’re great – you’re gonna be such a paddler and you’re great to have around!

Totally enjoyed meeting the other members that came and braved the cold too…Houston, you’re so much fun – you rival Freya in this photo!!

And this one too!!

I think meeting AstoriaDave was a treat for everyone…

Nice to finally meet you too Elmo - thanks for the cold medicine and thanks for helping us think outside of the box!

Gregn’s humor and his bright outlook on life was greatly appreciated…a soul with a lot of depth!

Inpayne with his perpetual smile even when in pain (sp?) from blisters!

Bruce I finally had a short chat with before they paddled off, but Doug Lloyd, RichardH
and Mike….I wish we’d had more time! One thing that the weather did do was to provide lots of visiting (and eating) time in the “big tent”….that thing was a godsend!

We had an extraordinary experience with BC Ferries this time – I couldn’t believe it! From the employee that assured us that we could sleep in the car in the Longterm Parking and not to worry about “checking in” for parking until morning and telling us that if we needed use of the amenities the night guard would let us in :shock: , the Chief Steward that fixed our throughfare tickets without having to pay the minimal difference in price (I understand that she did this for other WCPaddlers this weekend too!), the parking attendants, and the ticket lady that came into the pub in Lyall Harbor to find us all and sell us tickets…Unbelievable service and every one with a smile!

Slept poorly last night after getting home. I think I will have to set up my Hennessy Hammock (maybe inside a walk-in cooler with a fan going… :wink: ) in order to get a good night sleep again. I love it!! It is soooo much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground. I will for sure get the undercover before any more shoulder season camping. I had to give up using my tinfoil survival blanket as an underpad after my neighbors complained about the crinkling noise every time I moved on the first night – and juggling the windshield reflector, thermarest, sleeping bag and liner were quite entertaining :? ! I was warm enough but did have quite a few clothes on too! I think for summer camping Andreas’ idea of sleeping with the thermarest and just the open sleeping bag over top will be great. I can’t wait to sleep in it again!

Thanks to everyone for such a great week…I seriously think we should set up a Fall camp – September anyone?
Kathy

More photos...

We were last on the ferry for Swartz Bay so had to wheel through here...to get to the front of the ferry so we could be first off to make our connection to Saturna!

Hi Willi,
Yes, that is my HH with the hex fly and if you have room I would bring the undercover. You can always opt to not use it if it's too warm out. Well, I guess it depends on when are you doing that SSI trip - July, isn't it? Maybe you won't need it - surely it won't snow then!! :lol: I would love to come on that but will probably have to work...
Kathy

Well.. I'm finally back home from my quick trip in Vancouver and settling in for the night. Thanks for such a fun camping trip, guys. I wish I knew everyone a little better... sorry for being bashful. I felt welcome even being a newbie and i'll be back again! I don't think I could have showered everyone with enough praise for your work and contributions to the site and great outings even if in a bit inclement weather. It's nice to see how accessible the islands are even in rough weather. I learned a whole lot about reading the weather from VHF and planning trips, so it was a tremendous learning experience. I'm still in awe of inpayne's epic trip up Haro in a blizzard. Thanks for the stories and stove battles and thanks for bringing the party tent - it wouldn't have been the same without it.

I've blogged the event (link below) with lots of other pics! Here's a smattering of pictures from the event:

The winter wonderland on the beach on Friday afternoon.

Beautiful calm water near the channel bridge

Cooking in the storm shelter

Some of the potluck offerings

A colorful shell beach featuring crab dinner

Mark, Maddie and Robin enjoying being outside for a few minutes. Mark had set up a drying line using his tow rope.

Well, Candikayak and I got home at 1:00 this morning after hitting some snow flurries at the Van end of the Coq

I think meeting AstoriaDave was a treat for everyone…

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Likewise for you two Oakanoganites. Becky is in a lather to share stories and adventures with you two. She does not have many female paddler buddies of her age and demeanor. We might drag the Bartender up your way this summer and see if it works on fresh water.

I wish I had an incriminating photo of Kasey to share (such as the one above), but she was camera shy, I guess.

What a great time. Thanks to all for making it so fun. Definitely count me in next year.